Allegra Schorr

June 18, 2018

Allegra Schorr, aged 56, is president of the Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates (COMPA). Ms. Schorr has over 25 years of experience in health care and substance use treatment services. An owner and vice president of West Midtown Medical Group, an OTP, Ms. Schorr also represents New York State as a board member of AATOD, and was chair of the 2018 national AATOD conference.

Through her efforts, West Midtown Medical Group became the first opioid treatment program to dispense buprenorphine in an OTP setting in New York State. Most recently Ms. Schorr was appointed to the New York State Pain Management Steering Committee, formed as part of the State’s 2018-2019 Budget.

Ms. Schorr is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and expects to complete her Master’s of Science degree in Healthcare Management at Rutgers University-School of Health Professionals at the end of 2018.

Ms. Schorr’s father and uncles began managing Methadone Maintenance Treatment Programs in 1973. “I grew up around MMTPs and learned at an early age how methadone could help patients,” said Ms. Schorr. “After college, I worked on developing an HIV treatment program that would provide outpatient medical care for patients with HIV who were enrolled in the MMTP.” She submitted a certificate-of-need application for the MMTP to become certified as West Midtown Medical Group, a NYS Article 28 Diagnostic and Treatment Center—a comprehensive primary care facility with OTP and outpatient treatment for substance use disorders. (The MMTPs were Article 33 facilities.) The application was approved, and “my sister, cousins, and I became the owners of West Midtown Medical Group, located on West 35th Street in Midtown Manhattan.

“OTP leaders need to be alert to and speak out against stigma regarding MAT—and especially methadone,” said Ms. Schorr. On the other hand, “we need to hear legitimate criticism regarding our programs, and take positive steps to respond and improve things,” she said. “OTPs truly are essential hub sites and can provide leadership for the entire treatment field. The framework for OUD treatment in an OTP has enormous potential to offer integrated and coordinated care. Our leaders should think about how to utilize this structure to respond to our patients and our communities, and to turn the tide on the opioid epidemic.”

Ms. Schorr is also president of the Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates.